Shirt body pressing machine with two bucks



Sept. 30, 1958 N. STRIKE ET AL 2,854,177

SHIRT BODY PRESSING MACHINE WITH TWO BUCKS 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 31, 1956 li||||lM|||||1l1 IIIII INVENTORS LOU/5 N. STRIKE 0770 H. PEARSON Sept. 30?, 1958 N. STRIKE ET AL 2,854,177

SHIRT BODY PRESSING MACHINE WITH TWO BUCKS Filed Dec. 51, 1956 v 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS 400/5 N. sfQ/KE 07?? H. PEARSON 4 TTORNE Y I P 1958 ,L. N. STRIKE EFAL 2,854,177

SHIRT BODY PRESSING MACHINE WITH TWO BUCKS Filed Dec. 31, 1956 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS [01773 N. STRIKE 0770 l-/. PEARSON 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORJ 07 0 H. PEAR50/V 311g g A TTUR/VE Y .L. N. STRIKE ETAL SHIRT BODY PRESSING MACHINE WITH TWO BUCKS II I Sept.. 30, 1958 Filed D80. 31, 1956 L. N. STRIKE ET AL 2,854,177

SHIRT BODY PRESSING MACHINE WITH TWO BUCKS Sept. 30, 1958 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. 51, 1956 INVENTORS 91 100/5 M ST/Q/KE 07'70 1'7. pEfiR50/V %@%f 77 ATTOIQIVEY 'IIIIIIIIII p 30, 1958 L. N. STRIKE ETAL SHIRT BODY PRESSING MACHINE WITH TWO BUCKS 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Dec. 51 1956 INVENTORS LOU/5 IV- STRIKE United States Patent sum": BQDY PREssrNo MACHINE WITH TWO BUCKS Louis N. Strike and Otto H. Pearson, Salt Lake City, Utah, assignors to The American Laundry Machinery Company, Cincinnati, Qhio, a corporation of Ohio Application December 31, 1956, Serial No. 631,865

18 Claims. (Cl. 223-57) This invention relates to a machine for pressing the bodies of shirts and similar garments, the same constituting an improvement of the machine shown in Patent No. 2,743,854, issued May 1, 1956.

The machine disclosed in said patent comprises a carriage-mounted buck that is movable back and forth along a trackway between a dressing position at one end of said trackway and a pressing position at the opposite end between a pair of pressing platens. While the carriage is held at the dressing position, the operator places a shirt or the like upon a flattened buck and releasably clamps the tails of said shirt. Then, under control of the operator, the carriage is propelled in a direction toward the pressing position where the carriage is locked and the buck receives a supply of heated air that acts to distend the buck to distend the shirt thereon to remove wrinkles therein as the latter reaches the position between the pressing platens. Said machine includes means to move said platens toward each other to press the front and back of a shirt, the pressing being simultaneously effected from within by the heated air and from the outside by said platens, and also includes means for separating the platens after a suitable pressing period, the separating movement of the platens being utilized to effect release of the carriage and return thereof to dressing position. After the operator replaces the pressed shirt with one to be pressed, the above cycle of operation may be repeated.

It will be noted that, in said prior machine, no pressing takes place when the buck is being dressed and no dressing takes place when a shirt is being pressed. Consequently the cycle of operation is slowed accordingly. However, the machine has its place when used as a component of a group of laundry machines under the control of a team of operators and wherein the shirts being handled have their sleeves, collar and cuffs pressed also. Thus, the operator of the machine of said patent may be performing work on another machine of the group during the pressing period of the machine.

In order to be enabled to press the body of one shirt while another is being arranged on a buck preparatory to being pressed, it is an object of this invention to provide a shirt body pressing machine of the general character of the above-described prior machine and which is arranged to simultaneously press one shirt while another is prepared for pressing.

Another object of the invention is to provide a twobuck pressing machine of the character referred to and to provide novel and impoved buck-moving means by which the bucks are alternately moved to the same pressing position from two difierent dressing positions.

Hence, a further object of the invention is to provide a pressing machine having improved and greatly simplified trackways that are so arranged that each buck has its own path of movement between dressing and pressing positions and that the pressing position is the same for both bucks.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a Patented Sept. 30, 1958 pressing machine of the character above referred to in which the design of the trackways is such as to enable production of a machine of minimal floor space, and, further, in which means is provided for the individual adjustment of the tracks of each carriage-mounted buck so that suitable, albeit close, clearances may be provided between the carriages and bucks and between the latter and the pressing platens, as the bucks arrive at or leave the pressing station.

A yet further object of the invention is to provide, in a two-buck pressing machine, trackways that will simultaneously accommodate two bucks at the dressing station and but one buck at the pressing station, the machine including means to move a dressed buck toward the pressing station under control of the buck having the pressed shirt when the latter reaches its dressing station.

The invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient to use, easily installed in a working position and easily cliscon nected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description. However, the drawings merely show and the following description merely describes, one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawings, like reference characters, designate similar parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a front elevational View of a shirt-body pressing machine according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a semi-schematic plan view of trackways embodied in said machine and showing the positions of two shirt-mounting bucks in said machine.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view showing means employed for so adjusting the trackways of the machine as to tilt the bucks as desired for purposes of mutual clearance and clearance with respect to other portions of the machine.

Fig. 4 is a similarly enlarged plan view showing the dressing end of the machine with one of the bucks in dressing position, the machine-enclosing covers that are shown in Fig. 1 being omitted for clarity of illustration, the line 44 of Fig. 1 representing the general plane on which Fig. 4 is viewed.

Fig. 5 is an end view of the portion of the machine that is illustrated in Fig. 4, the line 55 of Fig. l representing the general plane on which Fig. 5 is viewed.

Fig. 6 is a plan sectional view as taken approximately on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view as taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is an elevation view as seen from the right side of Fig. 5, portions of the trackways being broken away.

Fig. 9 is a similar view showing details omitted from Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a broken vertical sectional view taken through the pressing station, as on line lit-iii of Fig. 11.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view as taken on line i1-11 of Fig. l of carriage control means employed in the machine.

Fig. 12 is an elevational view of the left side of the means shown in Fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is a schematic view of the control and operating means of the machine.

The present machine comprises an L-shaped frame 15 of which the horizontal portion 16, at one end, constitutes the dressing station and the vertical portion 17, at the other end, constitutes the pressing station.

According to the present invention, the frame is provided with horizontal trackway means 18 that extends between and includes the dressing and pressing stations.

Said trackway means 18 is shown as comprising two similar trackways 19 and 20 each comprised of a pair of parallel guides or rails, shown inthe form of straight tubes 21' and 22. As may best beseen in Figs. 2 and 4,

the two trackways 19 and 20 are. spread apart at the shown as tubes, the members 21 and 22 may compriseany suitable rigid elongated members that, because of their length, are adapted to be flexed out of a normally straight condition. As shown in Figs. 3 and 11, means 23 is provided for producing a flexure or bow in one of the members 21 or-22, in this case, the member 21..

The means 23 is shownas comprising an arm 24 car-,

ried at one end on a pivot 25 on frame 15 and having its other end 26 extended into engagement with. member 21 intermediate the ends of the latter. An adjusting screw 27 is provided for changing the angle of pivot of arm 24, as desired, and thereby flexingly displacing the member 21 upwardly or downwardly with relation to member 22. This condition, in exaggerated form, is shown in Fig. 3, it being clear that the flexure of member 21 may be in either direction, as desired.

While the opposite ends of tubes 21 and 22 are shown as carried by means of bolts 28 from cross bars 29 and 30, the connection is a loose one and merely efiects a temporary support for said tubes. Actually, one or both ends of the tubes are carried by support means 31 that is best seen in Figs. 4,6 and 7 and comprises a standard 32 that extends from the machineframe upwardly between tubes 21 and 22, or cross bar 33 aflixed to said standard below the tubes and in transverse arrangement with respect to the length of the tubes, a pair of adjustable clamps 34 carried by the standard and cross bar and engaged with opposite sides of the tube 21,'and an adjustable clamp 35 carried by the standard and engaged with the under side of the tube 22. Particularly from Fig. 7 it will be clear that the tubes 21 and 22 may be properly clamped in a level arrangement, as shown or, if desired, in any relatively ofiset arrangement, one higher than the other. When so clamped the ends of the tubes will be held fixed while tube 21 is under flexure imparted by the means 23. It will be seen that tube 21 is the one that is adjusted. Therefore, the same has upper and lower clamps at the ends thereof. It will also be seen that the means 31 is located so as not to riages mounted thereon are parallel although moving in convergent paths toward pressing position and 1n d1- vergent paths toward dressing position. from Fig. 2 that the carriages and pressing platens are parallel to a bisector of the trackways.

The respective shirt-mounting bucks or forms 42 and 43 are carried by the carriages and 41, the same so extending from the carriages as to be parallel thereto,

" to each'othe'r, and to the pressing platens. Therefore,

irrespective of which buck 42 or 43 is disposed in pressing position, the platens 36 close thereover to press the front and back of a garment draped thereon.

Since, at one time in the cycle of operation, both carriages 40 and 41. will be at the dressing station, the

return of, each carriage to said station instituting movement of the other carriage toward the pressing station, the mentioned means 23 is used to so tilt the carriages and the bucks as to insure passing clearance between the carriages and bucks and between. each buck and the pressing platens. rail tube 21 by the means 23 is so made as to produce a slight forward tilt to the front buck and a slight rearward tilt to the rear buck especially when said bucks are both at the dressing station. The means 23 and 31 combine to provide for adjusting the bucks to a truly or nearly truly vertical position when in pressing position.

Each carriage 40 and 41 comprises a tubular housing 44 that is closed at one end and open at the end 45 that leads as the carriage is moved to pressing position. Said end is adapted to couple with a heated air source to supply such air to the form 'or buck= carried housing 44. Depending on its design, each buck is served by outlets 46 and 47. The housing of each carriage is affixed to the top of a wall part 48 and the latter serves to carry suitable frame members 49. that mount wheels 50 engaged with the top of rail tube 22, a wheel 51 engaged with the top of rail tube 21,'and a wheel 52 engaged with the bottom of the latter tube. Engaged in this manner, said wheels hold each carriage captive'to its trackway and guide the same therealong to move in the manner above mentioned.

Since the means that clamp a shirt onto each buck is not part of the present invention because the operation of the present carriage-mounted bucks is independent of the interfere with whatever engages the trackways and tracks therealong between the dressing and pressing stations.

As shown in Fig. 10, the pressing station 17 of the machine is provided with a pair of pressing platens 36 that are disposed above the trackway means and in symmetry therewith. Said platens are mounted, by suitable links 37, to the machine frame and are moved toward each other to pressing position under control of an air-operated cylinder 38 of which the stem 39, when projected, is the platen-closing member. It will be understood that said platens close to pressing position in a plane that is centrally disposed between the converged ends of the trackways and has the same relationship to trackway 19 as to trackway 20.

'A carriage is mounted on each trackway, the carriage 40 on trackway 19 and the carriage 41 on trackway 20.

While the carriages 40 and 41 are generally similar, they have one important ditference; The carriage 40 is ofiset rearwardly (as viewed in Fig. 1) from the trackway 19 a distance such that when the carriage is at the pressing station, the same will be disposed on the menparticular clamp means employed, the same is largely omitted from the drawings and will be described in connection with the schematic view of Fig. 13. In any case, when either buck is at the dressing station, the same is draped with a garment so that the back of. the garment is V on the rear side 53 of the buck and the front of the garment on the front side 54. Thus, the pressing platens 36 may close over the draped buck, to press the, garment biased toward each other by a spring 59. A roller 60.

carried by the wall 48 of the carriage enters between the free ends of members 57, as in Fig. 6, to hold the carriage in dressing position.

The front carriage 40 is propelled from the dressing station toward the pressing station by a pusher device61, a similar device 62 being provided for the rear carriage 41, each carriage being provided with a lug 63 that is engaged by the projecting stem 64 of each respective device as the same is operated by compressed air or the like.

Said devices 61 and 62 are located at the dressing end of the machine. At the pressing end, there is provided a similar device 65 that, when its stem 66 is projected by.

ward the dressing station.

; While at the pressingstation, a buck-mounted carriag It will be seen In practice, the adjustment of the outer is held against movement as by a latch 67 under control of an air cylinder 68.

Essential to the operative movement of the carriages are control means 69, best seen in Figs. 11 and 12 and controlled by the carriages and reset by a valve 70 operated by a foot pedal at the dressing station, and carriage tripper-s 71 and 72 that operate valves 73 and 74, respectively, under control of means 75 on each carriage.

The diagrammatic view, shown in Fig. 13, embodies several components that are required in the overall operation of the machine and the same are schematically indicated since they do not have bearing on the hereinabovedescribed track means, adjustability thereof to insure clearance between two carriage-mounted bucks while they alternately move between dressing and pressing positions and back to the dressing position, and all other features dealing with the movement of the bucks and control thereof. The following description of 'the machine operation contemplates a cycle of operation that describes also the function of components not otherwise illustrated except in the schematic of Fig. 13.

Operation When the operator steps on pedal 76 to open valve 70, compressed air in line 77, supplied from an air tank ballast 73, in turn, supplied from a source 79, is admitted into line 80. From Figs. 11 and 12, it will be seen that this pressure actuates diaphragms 31 and 82 of the toggle control means 69 and that the stems of said diaphragms are projected to open valves 34 and 85 by breaking the respective toggles 36 and 87. Valves 84 and 85 remain open until closed by actuation of fingers 88 and 89, respectively.

Upon opening of valves 84 and 85 lines 90 and 91 receive compressed air which is conducted to tripper valves 73 and 74, respectively. At the same time, line 90 supplies compressed air to outwardly project the sleeve expanders 92 of buck 42 and also to operate piston 93 which causes actuation of a clamp that closes over the tails of a shirt draped upon the form or buck 42. In a somewhat similar manner, line 91 supplies compressed air to outwardly project the sleeve expanders 92 of buck 43 and to operate a diaphragm 94 that actuates the tail clamp of buck 43. This conditioning of the bucks prior to the movement of one of them to pressing position is independent of the operation of the carriages and may be varied or may, in part, be mechanically controlled, as suggested in the mentioned patent.

In this condition, one carriage and its buck are in dressing position and the other carriage and its buck are in pressing position. The reason for this is that the buck that is in dressing position depresses its tripper 71 or 72, as the case may be, by means of the spring-biased control 75 (see Fig. 8), thereby admitting compressed air to pusher device 61, if valve 73 is opened, or to pusher device 62, if valve 74 is opened. Thus, when a carriage and its buck move from pressing to dressing positions, their arrival at the latter position activates the pusher of the buck that has last been dressed and propels the same along the trackway to the pressing position.

The pusher device 65, which, in the machine, is arranged in opposed relation to the devices 61 and 62, when activated, will propel whichever carriage 40 or 41 is positioned at the pressing station, since both carriages, as described above, have the same central position at the latter station. Therefore, when tripper bar 95 is actuated by the operator to open valve 96 and connect line 97 to the air pressure in line 90, diaphragm 98 is activated to set the toggle mechanism 99 to a position that opens valve 100. As a result, line 101 is opened to the air pressure in line 77.

One of the pressing heads or platens 36 is arranged to control an actuator 102 that is provided with a valve 103. Consequently, said latter valve will open line 104 to the 6 air pressure in line 101, thereby activating the pusher device 65.

Thus, when the tripper bar is actuated, the pusher device 65 is projected to move a carriage from pressing to dressing station. When said carriage arrives at the dressing station, it operates the valve 73 or 74 whichever is in line with its control 75, and activates the pusher of the other carriage to propel the latter toward the pressing station.

When the device 65 is fully projected, the air pressure in line 104 will be opened to line 105 because the piston in the cylinder of said device will open port 106. The pressure in line does two things: it activates diaphragm 107 to trip toggle mechanism 99 and cause closing of valve 100 to shut off further air supply to cylinder 65. This operation may be slowed by a regulating needle valve 108; and it activates diaphragm 109 to set toggle mechanism 110 in position to open valve 111 to air pressure from line 77 so that this pressure is conducted to line 112.

When a carriage arrives in dressing position, the same, by means of a ram bracket member 113 opens valve 114 to which line 112 is connected. Opening of said valve 114 admits pressure air into line 115 which is connected to and operates the operating cylinder 68 of the cam-locking or latch device 67, thereby locking the carriage in place at the dressing station.

Since valve 111 is held open by toggle mechanism 110, the air pressure of line 112 is passed by a check valve 116 and a speed regulating valve 117 to valve 118. When latch device 67 has been projected, the piston in cylinder 68 uncovers a port 119, admitting pressure air to a line 120 to, thereby, activate diaphragm 121. The result is opening of valve 118 and admittance of the pressure air of line 112 to line 122 and thence into the end of cylinder 38, thereby causing the pressing platens to close over the dressed form or buck at the pressing station.

When the piston of cylinder 38 uncovers port 123, the air pressure of line 122 is admitted to line 124 which brings said pressure to a valve 125. Since the pressure in line 112 activates the diaphragm 126, the same opens the latter valve and the pressure from line 124 enters line 127 and thence into cylinder 128. A three-way valve 129 is actuated by said cylinder 128 and the same controls inflation of the side and yoke bags 130 preferably used on the bucks 42 and 43.

A timer 131 controls the period of time that the pressing platens are closed. The same is provided with a valve 132 that receives air pressure from line 77 and opens at the proper time to conduct this pressure to a line 133 to trip toggle 110 through the activation of a diaphragm 134 and venting of valve 111 and of line 112. This control may be manually accomplished by finger-actuation of a button 135 and opening of a valve 136 to connect lines 77 and 133.

The cycle of operation is now completed and the buck at the dressing station may have its pressed garment removed and replaced by one to be pressed. When thus redressed, the buck is now ready and the operator may then step on pedal 76 and then touch bar 95 to institute a new cycle of operation.

Since it is not desired to cause both devices to operate simultaneously, the carriage that is moving toward the pressing position trips the toggle 86 or 87 in its path to close the valve 84 or 85, as the case may be. Since said valves feed pressure to the valve of the tripper of the other carriage, there will be air pressure only in the tripper valve that is in the path of the carriage. Hence, the opposite propelling device 61 or 62 will operate and the one without pressure will contract ready to be projected by the next movement of a carriage to the dressing station.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what is now contemplated to be the best mode of carrying out our invention, the construction is, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It'is, therefore, not desired to restrict the invention to the particular form-of construction illustrated and described, but'to cover all modifications that dressing station and a pressing station, said paths being converged from the dressing toward the pressing station, a pair of pressing platens at the pressing station in symmetrical relationship on either side of the convergedguiding means, and each buck, when at the pressing station, I

having the same central position between the platens as the other buck.

g 2. A pressing machine comprising two parallel garment bucks, means guiding each buck along a path separate from the path of the other buck and between a dress ing station and a pressing station, said paths being converged from the dressing toward the pressing station, a pair of pressing platens at the pressing station in sym metrical relationship on either side of the converged guiding means, and each buck, when at the pressing station, having a central position between the platens and disposed on a bisector of the two separate paths.

3. A pressing machine according to claim 2 in which each of the buck-guiding means comprises a pair of horizontal parallel members, a carriage mounting each buck, and wheels on each carriage being engaged with upper and under portions of the horizontal members and tracking along said members.

4. A pressing machine comprising two parallel garment bucks, means guiding said bucks along separate paths 7 bucks, means guiding said bucks along separate paths between a dressing station and a pressing station, said paths being converged from the dressing toward the pressing station, a pair of pressing platens at the pressing station in symmetrical relationship on either side of the converged guiding means, each buck, when at the pressing station, having a central position between the platens and disposed on a bisector of the two separate paths, and means at each end of the mentioned paths to engage and propel the bucks from one station to the other, the propelling means at the dressing station being engaged by each respective buck and operable thereby to propel the other buck toward the pressing station.

6. A pressing machine comprising two parallel garment bucks, a carriage mounting each buck, means guiding said carriages and the bucks thereon along two separate paths between a-dressing station and a pressing station, said paths being converged from the dressing toward the pressing station, said bucks extending vertically up- Wardly above the carriages, and means to adjust the carpressing station, said bucks extending vertically upwardly above the carriages, each carriage-mounting means of each comprising a pair'of parallel and elongated members, and means to flexibly adjust one member relative to the other to, thereby, yarythe. angle of vertical'disposition of each respective buck'as the same moves along its path. J -8. A pressing machinejcomprising ,two parallel garment'bucks, a carriage mounting each buck, means 'guiding said carriages and the bucks thereon along two-separate'paths between a dressing station and a pressing station, said paths being converged from the dressing toward .the pressing station, said bucks extending vertically upwardly above the carriages, each. carriagemounting means of each comprising a pair of parallel and elongated members, and means to flexibly adjust one member relative to the other to, thereby, vary the angle of vertical disposition of each respective buck as the same moves along its path, said parallel members being loosely mounted at their opposite ends, and the means to flexibly adjust the members engaging the latter intermediate the ends thereof.

9. In a pressing machine having a dressing station at one end and a pressing station at the opposite end thereof, two straight trackways extending horizontally between said stations, said trackways being wider spaced at the dressing station than at the. pressingstations, a carriage-mounted garment buck on each trackway, the bucks thereof being parallel to each other, the trackways, at the dressing station being so spaced as to'accommodate both bucks simultaneously, and the track-- tween said stations, said trackways being 'wider spaced at the dressing station than at the pressing stations,.a carriage-mounted garment buck on each trackway, the bucks thereof being parallel to each other, each buck being offset from its trackway toward'the other trackway, the offset being of such degree that the bucks have substantially identical positions when at the pressing station.

11. In a pressing machine according to claim 10," the space between the trackways at the dressing station being large enough to accommodate both bucks simultaneously.

12. In a pressing machine according to claim 9, each trackway comprising two parallel and elongated mernbers, and means to flex one member relative to the other to, thereby, change the dispositions of the carriage mounted bucks, relatively.

13. In a pressing machine according to claim 9,. each trackway comprising two parallel and elongated members, and means to flex one member relative to the other to, thereby, change the dispositions of' the carriage. mounted bucks, relatively, said latter means being disposed intermediate the ends of the elongated members.

14. In a pressing machine, two straight trackways ineluding an acute angle therebetween whereby, at one end, the trackways are spaced farther apart than at the opposite end, a buck mounted on each ;tr ackway and offset from said 'trackway in a direction toward the other trackway, said bucks-being parallel to each other,

each buck,- when at the end of its trackway that is closer to the other trackway, being disposed on the bisector of said acute angle, and means to press a garment draped on the buck'when in said latter position.

15. In apressing machine according to claim 14, the

whereby both bucks may occupy their dressing positions whereby both bucks may occupy their dressing positions at the same time. at the same time.

17. A pressing machine according to claim 2 in which the bucks, when at their dressing stations, are in closely References Cited in the file of this patent adjacent positions and displaced from each other, 5

whereby both bucks may occupy their dressing posi- UNITED STATES PATENTS tions at the same time. 2,126,577 Rawlinson Aug. 9, 1938 18. A pressing machine according to claim 3 in which 2,757,832 Johnson et al. Aug. 7, 1956 the bucks, when at their dressing stations, are in closely 2,757,833 Petrie Aug. 7, 1956 adjacent positions and displaced from each other, 10 

